Note 62 — LORD MORDAUNT.
Reading edition
These reverend gentlemen were jesters to James the First. The name of the former was Archibald Armstrong, of whom and of whose jests an account may be found in Granger, vol. ii. p. 399. ed. 1775. 8vo. They are again joined in a manuscript poem (penes me) by Peter Heylin, written in derision of Barten Holiday’s play already mentioned in the life of the bishop, of which the following are the introductory lines:
“Whoop Holyday! why then ’twill ne’er be better, Why all the guard, that never saw more letters Than those upon their coates; whose wit consists In Archy’s bobs and Garret’s sawcy jests, Deride our Christ-church scene.”